NCB blames system glitches for late salaries

Following a system upgrade which triggered disruptions to its online banking platform and mobile application, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) yesterday said it was experiencing delays uploading payroll files affecting salary payments, which were expected yesterday.

As a result, the bank said persons who receive salaries through their NCB accounts should see the funds reflected today, while those at other financial institutions should expect same on Monday.

“The issues being experienced by our customers have our complete and undivided attention. Despite our teams working around the clock to manually upload and process payroll files as result of unavailability of our upgraded platform, some customers have yet to receive their salaries and for this we are deeply sorry,” NCB CEO Patrick Hylton said yesterday in a statement.

NCB said the decision to carry out the upgrade over the weekend of May 17 was made after undertaking multiple rounds of rigorous testing, which indicated that core systems would have been stabilised prior to payroll date.

However, Hylton said, this has not been the case.

“Unfortunately, the stabilisation has not occurred in the expected time frame. We will not rest until we are able to restore our systems and more importantly, our customers’ confidence. We are committed to turning this around and creating an experience and platform that is worthy of your loyalty,” he said.

NCB has been facing a firestorm of criticism from customers for carrying out this activity so close to 25th of the month, when many persons are paid.